decision making Archives - Page 17 of 59 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Preview of the Task Fixation Chapter of My New Smart Workers Book (Episode 289)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Communications, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Expectations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Pre Arrival Lens, Radios, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Technology, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I preview the chapter on Task Fixation from my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 33 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher […]

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Team Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Checklists, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making / Rich Gasaway

This is going to be an uncomfortable conversation as we talk about assessing your team to identify your weak links – the members who are not adequately trained, prepared or fit to perform the duties of a firefighter. During my SA programs, we talk about the need to complete a situational awareness “size-up” of the

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Preview of the Auditory Exclusion Chapter of My New Smart Workers Book (Episode 288)

In this episode, I preview the chapter on Auditory Exclusion from my new book, How Smart Workers Use Situational Awareness to Improve Safety. Length: 27 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher

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The Two Headed Incident Commander

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Factors, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

A subscriber to the Situational Awareness Matters newsletter sent me a photograph of an emergency incident scene that caused me to reflect on a very important situational awareness lesson. This lesson, unfortunately, is often overlooked and is often implicated as a contributing factor to near-miss and casualty events. Let’s spend a little time examining workload

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Thirty Seconds from Death – The Randy Hanifen Story (Episode 287)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Excited, Experience, Goals, Judgment, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Preoccupation, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision, understaffing, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, West Chester Captain Randy Hanifen shared the details of a near-miss inside a residential dwelling fire where, if circumstances were just slightly different, he might have been killed in a flashover. Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your

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Teaching Decision Making to Firefighters

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Assumptions, Decision Making, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership / Rich Gasaway

In a recent class, I engaged in a discussion with an officer who took exception with my recommendation that firefighters should be taught how to use situational awareness to make good decisions. His contention was that the fire service is a paramilitary organization and firefighters should not be decision-makers. Further contention was firefighters should obediently

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A Near-Miss While Responding – The Brian Collins Story (Episode 286)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Close Call, Complacency, Confusion, Culture, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Risk, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Technology, Vigilance / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Brentwood Battalion Chief Brian Collins shares a story about how he almost died when the door on the apparatus he was riding in unexpectedly opened while responding to a call. Length: 40 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding

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The Challenge of Disengagement

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Bravado, Emotions, Fear, Human Factors, Intuition, Neuroscience, Perception, Prediction, Repetition / Rich Gasaway

Why is it so hard to let go of a decision or an action once we have committed ourselves to it? As I think back on my life, it is easy for me to identify a number of times where my situational awareness eroded and it led to bad decisions. I can attribute a number

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Coffee Talk with Carl Potter from The Safety Institute (Episode 285)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Benchmarks, Biases, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Task Saturation, Teamwork, Technology, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, I am interviewed on the Coffee Talk Show with Carl Potter, founder of The Safety Institute. The Safety Institute is a resource for organizations that want to create workplaces where it’s difficult to get hurt. Length: 68 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you

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Using the Simulation Environment to Improve Situational Awareness

11 Comments / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Information overload, Mental Models, Neuroscience, Safety, Simulation, Situational awareness, Stress, Technology, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Many first responder training programs use simulation in the development of decision-making competencies. Simulation exercises help develop skills in setting strategy and tactics, in applying policies and procedures and in developing critical thinking skills. How can simulations be used in the development of situational awareness skills? The answer lies, in part, in understanding what situational

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